Wireless power transfer (WPT), also known as inductive power transfer (IPT), is the transmission of electrical energy from a power source to an electrical load without interconnecting wires. The principle of WPT is well known, yet the practical application has yet to be applied in broad-based electric transportation applications.
One application of WPT is the use of WPT to charge vehicles. WPT and its use in vehicular applications have both been described in numerous publications. See, e.g., H. H. Wu, G. A. Covic, J. T. Boys and A. P. Hu, “A 1 kW inductive charging system using AC processing pickups,” in Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA), 2011 6th IEEE Conference on, 2011, pp. 1999-2004; M. Budhia, G. Covic and J. Boys, “Design and Optimisation of Circular Magnetic Structures for Lumped Inductive Power Transfer Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1-1, 2011; and G. A. Covic, J. T. Boys, M. L. G. Kissin and H. G. Lu, “A Three-Phase Inductive Power Transfer System for Roadway-Powered Vehicles,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 3370 -3378, December 2007, 2007.
Although WPT has been described to some degree in transferring electrical power to stationary receivers, in-motion WPT for high-speed and high efficiency applications has yet to be developed to a point of practical application, particularly in vehicles. A system for in-motion WPT conventionally includes power transmission hardware (typically fixed in location) and power receiving hardware on board a vehicle moving relative to the transmission hardware. However, systems and associated methods for testing such components are needed to advance the technology further.